James Cameron Defends Titanic Ending

Titanic Director James Cameron Has Some Serious Thoughts About Whether Jack Could Have Actually Survived

Rose promised she'd never let go, but in the 20 years since Titanic was released, it seems as if it's the film's fans who can't let go — of the fact that Jack died, that is.

And James Cameron, the film's director, is no exception.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cameron said that there was no possible way that the door (yes, the infamous door) could have held both Jack and Rose. "Look, it’s very, very simple," he explained. "You read page 147 of the script and it says, 'Jack gets off the board and gives his place to her so that she can survive.' It’s that simple."

So no, Cameron is not onboard with that 2012 episode of Mythbusters, which busted the myth that Jack couldn't have survived. The show's hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman found that the two could have stayed afloat together if they just would have tied their life jackets to the door for extra buoyancy.

Cameron poo-poos this idea. "OK, so let’s really play that out," he said. "You’re Jack, you’re in water that’s 28 degrees, your brain is starting to get hypothermia. Mythbusters asks you to now go take off your life vest, take hers off, swim underneath this thing, attach it in some way that it won’t just wash out two minutes later—which means you’re underwater tying this thing on in 28-degree water, and that’s going to take you five to ten minutes, so by the time you come back up you’re already dead."

In Cameron's opinion, Jack did everything he possibly could have done to survive: He kept his upper body out of the water and waited for someone to come save him. Unfortunately, that just didn't happen, which is why it's so sad. Though, the movie's alternate ending may be even worse, FYI.

Cameron does appreciate Mythbusters attempting to find the truth. Well, sort of. "They’re fun guys and I loved doing that show with them," Cameron said. "But they’re full of shit."

This isn't the first time Cameron's shared that sentiment. As Entertainment Weekly pointed out when Mythbusters presented Cameron with the results of its Titanic episode he told them they were "missing the point."

"The script says Jack dies, he has to die," he said then. "Maybe we screwed up. The board should have been a tiny bit smaller. But the dude’s going down.”